The Sun Shouldn't Rise Red
by sjokoladesaus
Summary: Roxas' irrational hatred towards anything red comes into conflict when a strange redhead refuses to leave him alone. AU and extremely (hopefully) cliché!
1. Roxas hates the sunrise

Twilight Town had sunrises like nowhere else in the world. Some atmospheric anomaly produced orange and pink glows that bathed the town in what many poets had referred to as warmth. While most sunrises in the world are, in fact, warm in color, Twilight Town was especially noted for its beautiful skies and warm hues. The clouds in the sky were always rotund and full, and as the sun rose, they too turned rosy and warm. Birds would begin chirping, and the oranges would fade to yellow, and by nine or ten in the morning (sunrises in Twilight Town were, as was previously mentioned, an atmospheric anomaly), the sky would be nearing a normal blue.

In fact, maybe the only thing more beautiful than its sunrises, were Twilight Town's sunsets. As the _very_ creative founders of the town debated on a name, arguing about location and topographic elements, the sun began to set. They were oh so stunned by this, that they immediately agreed on Twilight Town. Or The Twilight Town as it had originally been, but articles fell out of fashion over time, and the name was shortened. That's at least what the legend says.

Sunsets in Twilight Town had the reds and oranges, but they didn't last as long as the blues and the purples. The sky became a water color portrait of darkening tones. Clouds faded into the background as the town was engulfed by bright blues and violets that revealed twinkling stars as the night drew closer.

Roxas hated the sunrise.

Roxas hated the sunset.

Roxas could probably say he hated the sky, but he thought vocalizing that might actually worry someone.

He had lived in Twilight Town for nearly his whole life, when he was kid he had lived far away in a place called Destiny Islands, and he hated the sky there too. Roxas had never been very outdoorsy.

On one very specific day in late August, Roxas was looking out his window, glaring at the clouds. The sun was beginning to threaten its departure, a hint of orange tinted the horizon. He pulled his curtains closed, shook his head in annoyance, and exited his room. He lived on the top floor of their three-story house with his twin brother, Sora. Houses in Twilight Town were packed together, built like the brownstones that were famous in many cities, but in his town, they were made from some charming stone that reflected the oranges and blues of the sky, intensifying the glorious atmosphere around them. Tourists called it amazing, Roxas called it annoying.

He trudged down the wood stairs, still feeling a little miffed. He reminded himself, although perhaps he was trying to convince himself, that he wasn't always so angry, not even about the sun, but school was starting soon and his parents were away until September. Roxas didn't like stress much either.

He heard footsteps below him, and upon realizing that Sora was home, and was probably not alone, he turned around and walked back up to his room.

Roxas wasn't very social.

"Rox!" He heard his brother call up to him. He didn't respond. "Roxas!" Sora called again, and he rolled his eyes and laid down on his bed. A minute later the brunette boy was in his room, wearing his trademark smile. "Roxas, why're you being like this? I _know_ you're not asleep yet. Roxas!" He turned to look at his brother, Sora's grin faded, his blue eyes feigned hurt, albeit convincingly.

"What." His blue eyes, which were coincidentally identical to Sora's, narrowed slightly.

"Why're you so moody today, Rox? I was gonna invite you out with Riku and Kairi and me!"

"No."

"Roxas! C'mon, you haven't been out in forever!"

"That's not true, I was out with Hayner last night." Hayner was Roxas's best friend. Him, and his other two friends, Pence and Olette, were the only people with whom Roxas tried to socialize. Roxas _really _didn't like to socialize.

"That doesn't count," Sora whined, "I miss you! Just come have fun with us tonight, I'll buy you some sea salt ice cream." He wiggled his eyebrows at his twin, whose eyes lit up very slightly. Roxas did happen to like sea salt ice cream.

"What're you planning on doing?" He sat up and tousled his blonde hair, not helping the perpetual bed head with which both he and his brother were plagued.

"We were just gonna go for a walk, talk, maybe get something to eat, like sea salt ice cream." He smiled again. Roxas was aware that Sora knew his weak points better than the blonde did himself.

"When?"

"Now."

Roxas glared again. "I'm not even dressed to go out." He had a point, he was wearing boxers and a wrinkled t-shirt, and his blonde hair was looking especially messy.

"So get ready really fast! I believe in you!" Sora said as he ran out of the room. Roxas sighed, he couldn't really argue with his brother, he had been more antisocial than he usually was (if antisocial tendencies were measurable), and sea salt ice cream was a decent enough reward for an hour or two of walking around.

He walked over to his mirror, and looked at himself. He was pale, paler than Sora, but he had the same face. His eyes were a warm blue, but not as shiny or pretty as his brother's. Both twins were on the short and skinny side, with relatively plump faces, but Sora wore it better. His hair was blonde and messy, Sora's was nicely brown and soft. Maybe Roxas had an inferiority complex about his brother. Who knew.

He smoothed his hair out, improving its shape slightly, and took his shirt off. After finding a clean t-shirt, a plain white one, he looked at his hair again. Replacing his shirt had messed it up. He sighed and found a pair of jeans. After he had dressed himself sufficiently, he tried to smooth his hair again, but decided it was a lost cause. Roxas didn't like his hair.

He walked down the stairs slowly, sighing at every step. The sunset would be in full bloom by the time they found Riku and Kairi. He walked into his kitchen, pulled on his jacket, which had been sitting on a chair, and found his shoes.

"Rox! You're coming! I'm so glad!" Sora was always so energetic, and Roxas didn't understand why.

"Yeah, but you owe me my ice cream." Roxas said, realizing he sounded more demanding than he had meant to.

They walked down the last set of stairs in their house, which brought them to the outside world. Roxas looked up, and glared. The sun was hitting its first stage of orange orange, and the clouds were beginning to light up. Sora giggled, Roxas turned his glare to his brother, who thought his quirks were funny.

They continued down the road outside their house, walking towards a nearby park. They walked towards the entrance, and followed one of the few paths available to them. Ahead was a silver haired boy, sitting on a bench, playing on his phone. Sora jogged towards him, that _silverette_ was Riku. Sora's dearest friend. He had lived on Destiny Islands at one point too, and so had Kairi. Their parents had all worked for the same company, and when it was bought by a larger firm, their choice was to move, or to lose their jobs. Sora had been lucky, his friends had been a part of his move. Roxas hadn't had as many close friends, but none of their parents chose to move, so he had to start all over.

That had been when he was 7, but he was still jealous that his brother had all the good luck. There was that complex again.

"Hey, Roxas, wait up!" He heard a loud, feminine voice call after him. He turned around and there was the aforementioned Kairi, a petite girl with dark red hair, and dark blue eyes. She smiled at him, " what's up slowpoke, why are you so far behind Sora?"

"He ran off to see Riku." Roxas looked at her blankly, he didn't care much for Kairi.

"Ah, how sweet, he must miss his little boyfriend after a day of being apart." She giggled. Roxas rolled his eyes. Sora was very close to Riku, it probably stemmed from the move. Riku was his security blanket, and everyone knew Kairi was just a teeny tiny bit jealous.

"Guys! C'mon!" Sora called to them, and Kairi picked up her pace, but Roxas refused to move faster than he had been. Roxas didn't really like moving either.

They spent that evening wandering around the town, eating sea salt ice cream (except Riku, he never could get used to its taste), and talking.

Roxas didn't do much of the talking, he always felt disconnected from Sora's friends, so he followed them, happily, in his sense of the word, eating his ice cream, and listening.

A few hours later, they were walking back to the park, the sun had set, and the sky was dark. Roxas was still trailing behind, this time looking at his phone, hoping Hayner or Pence would have texted him about some late night mischief. There were no new messages, so Roxas trudged on.

At the park, Sora said his goodbyes to his friends, and he and Roxas walked towards their house.

"Hey Rox, is something up? You seem... moodier than usual." Sora looked at him, finally asking the question that Roxas knew had been on everyone's mind.

"I'm fine, So." He looked back at his brother, face blank and eyes dull. Truth was, he couldn't articulate why he was so upset. He was bored, he was tired, but he was also restless. He'd chocked it up to hormones and teenage angst, and he was satisfied with that assessment.

"Okay, but just know I'm here for you, little bro!" Sora tried to pull him into a friendly headlock, which Roxas dodged and kept walking.

"I'm not your little brother. I'm seven minutes older than you."

* * *

The next morning, Roxas woke up after the sun had risen. He hadn't gone to bed until two or three the night before, and it was only eight. He rubbed his eyes and arched his back. He wasn't a big sleeper either. He crawled out of his bed, rolling onto the ground like a child, and laying there, half wrapped in his blankets still. He closed his eyes again, and sighed. School began in three days, and Roxas hadn't even checked his schedule. He groaned and opened his eyes. Above him was another blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy.

"Cloud!" Roxas was startled, he hadn't heard his older brother walk in to his room.

"Yeah." His brother replied, staring down at his brother with a very slight hint of amusement. "Are you going to get up? Or are you going to stay here and look like the baby that you are." Roxas glared at his brother, Cloud had always taken care of him, and Sora insisted that Roxas was basically a smaller version of his brother. He scrambled to his feet, feeling a little ridiculous now that Cloud had pointed it out.

"So, Cloud, why're you here?" His brother was supposed to be off at the University of Hollow Bastion, in Radiant Garden, a city about an hour away from Twilight Town.

"School hasn't started yet. Figured I'd check up on you and So, seeing that mom and dad abandoned you for that trip." Cloud smiled at his brother. He didn't smile often, but he had a weak spot for his moody brother.

"They didn't abandon us, dumbass. They had to go." Roxas glared. He liked his brother, but he didn't like smiling.

"Dad had to, mom chose to."

"I _like_ being alone Cloud. And Sora has Riku to take care of him. We're 16, we don't need them to baby us anymore. And we don't need you either."

"Don't say that, you know you miss having your family around." Cloud shook his head, and walked towards the hall. "I'm gonna wake Sora now, so get started on breakfast."

Roxas rolled his eyes and walked down to the kitchen. It was nice seeing Cloud, but breakfast for both Sora and the other blonde would be torture. Cloud ate food like a vacuum sucked dirt, and Sora was the same. He shuffled to the fridge, and looked at what they had to make. There was bacon, but not nearly enough to feed the three of them. They had some bread, so toast was an option. There wasn't much else, and he hadn't realized they were so out of food. Roxas wasn't the most observant teenager, and since his parents had been gone, he had taken to ordering fast food and take out. He closed the fridge and turned around. Behind him was a strange brunette man, staring down at him, holding a couple plastic bags. What was most striking about him, however, was the scar running between his eyes. Roxas screamed.

The man looked somewhat startled, but his expression hardly changed. Roxas backed up into a corner, felt his pocket for his phone, realized he didn't have it, then yelled out, "Cloud!" He cowered a little further into his corner as the man approached. "Cloud there is a strange man here, please come save me!" Roxas was getting emotional, he didn't like people, especially strangers. He also didn't like home invasions, but he figured that was common sense, not him being moody.

"Kid, I'm not a strange man." The guy started, putting his bags onto the table. "I'm Cloud's roommate from college, Leon?" He looked at Roxas like he should know who that is, but Roxas just glared up at him.

"Why should I believe that?" Roxas was still in his corner, looking around for some weapon, where were the kitchen knives when you needed them?!

"Why shouldn't you? I brought you food, and looking at your kitchen," he opened the refrigerator door and quickly examined its contents, "Cloud was right when he said you'd need it." Roxas blinked up at the man, relaxing just slightly. If the man was trying to kill him, he might have tried to stop Roxas from screaming earlier, and he didn't seem like he wanted to steal anything, but Roxas remained wary. He still didn't like strangers.

Sora came rushing down the stairs seconds later, followed by Cloud.

"Rox, what was that screaming about?" Cloud looked at his brother, who was still cowering to an extent in his safe corner. Then he looked at the man, Leon, "oh, shit. Yeah. That's Leon. He's my friend from school. Sorry I didn't mention that he was coming with me." Cloud looked amused. Roxas glared back at him.

"Probably should have mentioned that." Roxas said, getting up, eyeing Leon angrily.

There was an awkward pause, Roxas glaring at both his brother and the stranger, Cloud unpacking some groceries, and Leon looking very uncomfortable. Sora jumped up and began to talk, "oh, hi Leon! I'm Sora, Cloud's other brother." He tried, trying to prevent awkward silences and glares that Roxas and the new man would have shared

"Hey, nice to meet you." Leon responded, relaxing a little as well.

"So Rox, you gonna help make breakfast, or just stand there?" Cloud looked over at the other blonde, who just grumbled and walked out of the room. He stood in the hall, listening to what his brothers had to say. Roxas was curious about Cloud's visit, but he didn't need them to know that

"He's not a morning person." Sora tried to explain. Cloud nodded in agreement, and began to heat up their stove. "So, Cloud, why are you here?" Cloud hadn't gotten a chance to explain his visit properly to either brother.

"Just felt like showing up, Leon wanted to see Twilight Town, so I figured I'd show him." Cloud said while he cooked, beating some eggs together.

Roxas rolled his eyes, _tourists_, he thought,_ all they care about are the goddamn sunsets._

"Oh, that's cool. When does Hollow Bastion start again?" Sora looked at Leon this time, trying to be a gracious host.

"Oh, uh, mid-September." Leon's answer sounded gruffer than he had meant. He wasn't the most gracious guest. Roxas sighed quietly, and and finished the walk to his room

"That's cool, we start school really soon, so you two are gonna have to find other entertainment." Sora said with a wink, and excused himself to find Roxas.

* * *

Roxas was back in his room, laying on his bed and staring at his ceiling. He wanted to go back to sleep, but he couldn't. He rolled over and stared out his window. There were people outside, taking strolls and basking in the nice summer weather. He rolled away, watching people enjoy themselves made him angry. He wriggled a little bit more, and was back to staring at his ceiling.

"Rox, wanna come down?" Sora asked before walking into his brother's room, Roxas was easy to sneak up on, and Sora hadn't wanted to sneak up on him. Roxas thanked him silently for that piece of common sense.

"No. Not hungry" Roxas turned to the window again.

"Alright, but I think Cloud's gonna be disappointed if you sulk in your room all day." Sora looked at his feet. Roxas was being moody again.

"So, I don't care. Let him be disappointed. I'm tired." Roxas turned to lay on his face, the people outside his window were bothering him again.

Sora turned to leave, but as he opened the door, Cloud walked in, silently. He strolled over to Roxas's bed and hoisted him up over his shoulder. Roxas cried in protest, kicked his brother's chest a little, and squirmed as much as he could. But, alas, it was no use, the larger blonde was also the stronger blonde.

"You're gonna come eat with us, and you're gonna like it." Cloud grunted as he got to the stairs. Sora smiled and followed them down.

Back in the kitchen, once everyone was settled, and Roxas was trapped between Cloud and Sora at the table, their meal began. It was not unlike many other meals they had shared as brothers, piles of food, Sora talking more than anyone else, and Roxas sulking in a corner. This time was slightly different, as Leon was seated across from the brothers. Roxas didn't like guests, and glared at his brother's friend throughout the meal. He was still upset over the home invasion.

"Sora, Roxas, you two are juniors, right?" Leon asked, trying to break the ice.

"Mhm, I know we don't look it, but we're finally upperclassmen!" Sora responded, his eyes glowing with unnecessary pride.

"That's nice." Leon replied. He wasn't a conversationalist.

"So what're you studying over at Hollow Bastion?" Sora asked, genuinely interested in his brother's friend.

"Uh, engineering." Leon said. "Chemical engineering."

"Wow, that's so cool. You must be, like, super smart then, right?" Sora grinned. "I'll bet I'll be real bad at chemistry, maybe you could help me sometime! Cloud's no good at science either, and Roxas is mean and won't to help me with anything." Sora chirped. Leon looked over at the other twin, who was busy eating his food and didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation.

"Yeah, sure, if Cloud brings me back to visit, I'll try and help you." Leon said, and looked down at his food and began to eat. Talking to people was tiring.

Sora spent the rest of the meal chattering on about how excited he was for school to start, how unfair it was that Riku was a senior and he wasn't, and anything else that he could think of. Roxas spent the meal eating in silence, checking his phone occasionally for a text from Hayner. Cloud and Leon listened to Sora talk, and found themselves more amused by him than they should have.

As soon as Roxas had finished eating, he stood up, looked at Sora (who was blocking his path to freedom), and asked him _very_ politely to move, "move." Sora stood up and Roxas walked back up to his room.

Everyone else at the table just blinked at his exit, and Cloud asked, "since when has he been _this_ upset?" Sora sighed and shook his head.

* * *

About an hour later, Roxas's salvation had come. Hayner had texted him.

_Yo, you up?_

_Mhm. Sup?_ Roxas responded. He did, in fact, enjoy texting. It kept people from talking to him.

_Olette and I were gonna go get Pence out of the house, it's been a week since he's left and we're worried._ Roxas smiled, Pence had just gotten a new PC, and was probably holed up in his room playing MMORPGs and talking to Koreans on the internet.

_I'll be out in 15._ Roxas was planning on skipping a shower, he was lazy, but he had to make sure his hair was behaving itself. He probably also needed to get dressed. He looked in the mirror, and discovered that no, his hair was not behaving itself, and he mashed it down, too frustrated to do anything to it. It bounced back to place, and he gave up. Roxas didn't have much patience.

Roxas pulled on the first clothes he could find, and looked at himself once more. _Why does Sora get all the good genes?_ He looked at himself, the black shirt he had on made him look even whiter than he already was.

He proceeded to walk down the stairs, Cloud and Leon were still in the kitchen, and as far as Roxas could tell, they weren't talking, just sitting. Even for him that was weird. He continued down the stairs and found his shoes. With a slight skip in his step, he left his house.

He walked down the road, but barely had gone 20 yards when he saw the familiar dark blonde hair of his best friend. Hayner smiled and walked towards Roxas. His brown eyes were shining, and his teeth were showing. Hayner usually wore a scowl, not a smile, so something must be up.

"Dude, how're you?" He called over. Roxas chose not to answer until he was close enough not to yell.

"I'm fine. You seem happy though." He answered once they were walking side by side.

"Seifer's screwed, man. He was giving me such shit, and then this cop came over and shat right back on him."

"What?" Roxas was surprised. The police didn't usually get involved in Hayner's scraps with Seifer, they never went anywhere and no one ever got really hurt.

"Yeah! I think he's just getting a warning, but still. He was practically pissing his pants!" Hayner laughed and cracked his knuckles. He had a habit of doing that, cracking his knuckles.

"Cool." Roxas looked down at his phone, "where's Olette?" No new texts, although he wasn't sure why he was looking. Hayner was with him.

"She's gonna meet us at Pence's, he better not be dead, dude."

"I think he's just playing games or something." Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, alright, maybe."

He and Hayner walked down the road until they reached the commercial district. Pence lived on the other side of it, and if anything the houses over there were more packed and even skinnier than where Roxas lived. Olette hadn't gotten to Pence's yet, she was distracted by some new shop opening, and they saw her walking ahead of them.

"Hey, Lettey!" Hayner whistled after his friend.

"Don't call me that!" She spun around quickly and glared. "Oh, hey Rox!" She smiled at her other friend.

"Hi, Olette." Roxas stared back. She was wearing orange again, it was her favorite color, and she looked good in it. Her green eyes were framed by thick eyelashes, and her hair was shiny and soft. She was pretty, Roxas knew that, and both Pence and Hayner had been going for her for years. Roxas had removed himself from that fight. Roxas liked fighting, just not over girls.

"So, what's the strategy? He hasn't answered my calls, so I dunno if he'll come to the door." Hayner obviously wanted to break in.

"What about his parents?" Roxas looked at him, even if Pence was their friend, he wasn't down to climb through a window.

"Oh. Right." Hayner's face fell a bit, "we'll just have to hope they're home and hear us."

They kept walking, and Hayner talked to Olette the whole way, earning himself a smack about a block from Pence's house. Hayner liked to talk, Roxas liked to listen, and Olette was somewhere in between.

They arrived at Pence's old house, one of the only ones in town made of red bricks. His neighbors called it unsightly, Pence's parents called it historical. Roxas liked it, the lack of reflectivity was more beautiful than any sunset.

After a moment of debate, it was decided that Olette should knock on the door, Roxas didn't want to, and Hayner thought Pence would take the bait faster if Olette was the one asking for him. She walked up to the door, and lifted the brass knocker. After knocking twice, she stood there, looking slightly uncomfortable. A minute later, the door opened just slightly, and Pence's face peeked out.

"Oh... Hey guys." He laughed nervously.

"Where the hell have you been, man?" Hayner asked.

"You know, around..." Pence smiled a little, hoping he wouldn't have to explain himself.

"Were you playing that new MMO?" Roxas asked, "Hades' something, or whatever it was called?"

"Hades' Underworld." Pence said, somewhat ashamed.

"And that trumps spending your last week of summer, your last week of freedom, with us?" Hayner demanded. He wasn't trying to be rude, but he was. That was Hayner for you.

"Uh, no?" Pence responded.

"Well, then come on! We're going out!" Hayner pushed the door open a few more inches, and forced himself inside. Roxas and Olette waited outside, after they heard a struggle.

A few minutes later, Pence emerged with Hayner close behind. Pence's dark hair had been forced into a sweatband, and his clothes looked mismatched. Olette giggled, and Pence blushed.

They spent the rest of the evening in their usual spot, a small hideaway in the back of an alley. It was furnished with a few crates and a poster, but was largely just a hole in the wall that Roxas's friends had deemed theirs. They talked, and Roxas joined in on the conversations whenever he was feeling up to the task. They snacked and joked around, and by the time the sun was setting, Roxas was tuckered out.

"I think I'm gonna head back, guys." He stood up. "I haven't even started my summer homework, and school's so soon, I should get on that." He just didn't want to talk anymore, he wanted to stare at his ceiling.

"Aw, alright Rox. Be safe!" Olette called, obviously warning him about Seifer.

"Seeya bro." Hayner called.

"Bye!" Pence was simple.

* * *

He began his walk out of the alley, and walked towards the sandlot. He and Hayner had met there when they were just kids, right after Roxas had moved to Twilight Town. They had gotten in a fight, and it took a few years for them to get over themselves and become friends. Roxas shook his head, now wasn't the time to reminisce, the sky was turning red, and he wasn't in the mood to watch the sun set. He kept walking, stopping at the ice cream stand very briefly to get a sea salt ice cream. Those were worth the sunset. He meandered onward, and reached the park near his house. He was planning on sitting on one of the benches for a minute (the trees blocked the sun enough that he would survive) and enjoying his snack, but his bench of choice was currently occupied.

By a stranger. A smoking stranger, nonetheless.

The man had bright red hair, as cheesy as it was, the same color as the sunset behind him. Roxas glared. That was _his_ bench, and that guy's hair was pissing him off. He stood there for a moment, glaring, and decided to just walk on by the strange man. Just as he was softening his look, the redhead glanced in his direction, and smirked. Normally people in Twilight Town were friendly, they smiled at each other even if they didn't know one and other. But this wasn't a smile, it was a smirk. A challenge. Roxas's feathers were already ruffled, and now he was downright angry. He didn't normally approach people, especially not strangers, but that man was in _his_ space. He marched towards the guy, and hesitated for a second, the man looked big. But he kept walking, he was going to get his bench back, and that man was going to be sorry for smirking at Roxas Strife.

"How's it going, blondie?" The man drawled, taking a drag from his cigarette and blowing the smoke in Roxas's direction. That made the blonde even angrier.

"Who're you?" He asked, not making eye contact. The man's eyes freaked him out, they were bright green, and looked almost as fake as his hair did. Not to even mention the tattoos underneath them. Were they diamonds? Upside-down tear drops? Whatever they were, Roxas stared at them instead of the redhead's eyes.

"Who're you?" The redhead mimicked, although Roxas was sure he sounded more genuinely interested than he should have.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is _you_ are on _my _bench, and I don't _know_ you. So who are you!" Roxas was mad. He sounded childish, but he didn't care.

"Kiddo, we can share the bench, I'm not gonna bite." The redhead winked. "Oh, and the name's Axel. A-X-E-L." He smirked again. "Got it memorized?"

Roxas gaped a bit, who went around saying stuff like that?

"Got it _memorized_?" He asked, his anger subsiding slightly. The stranger, Axel, didn't respond, he just took another drag of his cigarette and looked at the trees. Roxas glared at him again, not liking being ignored.

"No need to glare, kid." Axel looked back at him, still smirking. "I'll be leaving in just a minute." He said as he breathed out the smoke he had been holding in.

Roxas just shook his head and walked away. He wasn't angry anymore, just freaked out by the redhead. As he exited the park, he was sure he could hear the man call "nice ass," but he wasn't certain. He shook his head again and moved on.

* * *

After Cloud and Sora had said goodnight to him, Roxas was staring at his ceiling again. That redhead was getting to him, and he didn't know why. Perhaps it was because nobody ever sat on his bench, perhaps it was because the man had smirked at him. Roxas huffed angrily, and turned onto his stomach. He wasn't going to think about stupid strangers any longer, he had to think about school.

* * *

The next morning, Roxas woke up before either of his brothers or their guest. He wandered into the bathroom, and looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was a mess and he had bags underneath his eyes. He had gotten a decent amount of sleep the night before, but Roxas needed more than a decent amount to look refreshed. He scowled a little, cursing his brothers for their naturally good looks. He stepped into the shower, and turned the water on. It hit him cold, and he yelped a little. That hadn't been a smart move. As it heated up, Roxas shampooed his hair lovingly, willing it to come out neater than ever before. As he rinsed out the shampoo, some of it made its way down to his eyes, and he yelped again. Today was not starting well for him. He quickly got the rest of the shampoo out of his hair, and found his conditioner. Yes, he conditioned his hair, and although Hayner was quite rude about his personal hygiene habits, Roxas was convinced that would improve the overall quality of his hair. He waited the two minutes that the bottle instructed, and rinsed his hair once more. He finished his shower by lathering himself up in soap, and washing himself down.

He stepped out of the shower, and shook his hair off. It was already spiking up again. He grabbed his towel and dried himself off, avoiding his hair for fear that messing with it would only make it worse.

He shuffled back to his room and opened his blinds. The sun was still rising, and Roxas closed his window again. He laid down on his bed, hair still wet, and stared at his ceiling yet again. Roxas was quite fond of that ceiling.

"What're you looking at?" Roxas tensed slightly, having not heard Sora walk in.

"The ceiling." Roxas didn't bother looking at his brother.

"Why?" Sora was already eating something, probably potato chips, and he was chewing them too loudly for Roxas to handle in the morning.

"Because," Roxas began, glaring at his ceiling, "it's not _red_." He emphasized the word, red pissed him off more than any other sunrise color, and that stranger was still stuck in his head. Roxas was basically a bull, tormented daily by God-The-Matador's choice of cape.

"Rox, why're you so down? The sunrise is so pretty!" Sora chirped through his food.

"It's like 8 am and the sun is still rising. That's not normal, So."

"So? It's what makes us a tourist attraction!" Roxas could hear the pride in Sora's voice.

"I don't _want_ to be a tourist attraction. I want a normal sky with normal colors."

"But it's so pretty!" Sora smiled and walked over to his brother's bed. He leaned over and stuck his face between Roxas and ceiling. "Get up, I wanna go out."

"No." Roxas swatted at his face. Roxas wasn't a morning person.

"But Roooox!" Sora whined, moving his head closer to his brother's.

"No." Roxas rolled over and decided to ignore his brother.

"Fine." Sora huffed. "But one day, when you're de-socialized or something and are all alone, I don't want to hear any complaints." He walked out of the room and Roxas rolled back over to look at his ceiling.

* * *

Axel was staring at his ceiling. He'd never really looked at it before, it was white and boring, but he was too deep in thought to care.

Who had that boy been? He was so angry, but he couldn't stop thinking about him. Sure he was cute, lots of blonds were cute, but something about him stuck with Axel. He was irritated.

He decided that he would make smoking on that bench a routine, at least until he figured out what it was about the blond he couldn't get over.

* * *

Roxas was wandering about his house, looking to see if anyone was home. It was afternoon, and already he could see hints of yellow in the sky. Or maybe he was just paranoid.

Sora was still out with Riku, probably, and Cloud wasn't responding to text messages. Leon was (hopefully) with Cloud, so Roxas concluded he was alone.

He walked into the living room, and turned on the TV. Roxas didn't really like television, but he was feeling kind of lonely, and he hoped some TV personality would be able to fill that hole.

His phone buzzed. He ignored it. Roxas was fickle. He was lonely, but he didn't want to be bothered with people.

He settled on a reality show marathon, _Real World: Traverse Town_. Traverse Town was a college town, there were three schools there, and it had a reputation for being a party haven. The show's premise was dumb, some people were chosen to spend a month or two drinking and partying and having it recorded so people like Roxas could feel better about their life choices.

He might be de-socialized, but at least he wasn't drinking until he vomited.

* * *

Axel was sitting on the bench, smoking his third cigarette. He'd been there for an hour, and the blond wasn't showing. He sighed. Maybe sitting around like that was a bad idea, it was kind of creepy how he was just _waiting_ for a boy who so obviously did not like him.

But Axel wanted answers. And another glimpse of that blonde's ass. Mmm.

* * *

Roxas was falling asleep on the couch when Cloud and Leon got back, he heard them come in and quickly turned of the TV. They didn't even notice him, Leon seemed upset and Cloud was annoyed.

"Fuckin' Sephiroth." Leon growled, "why is he even _here_."

"Leon, there's nothing we can do, just avoid him."

Roxas perked up. That name was familiar. He didn't know from where, but it was so unique, he knew he had heard it before.

"I can't believe it though, Sephiroth showing up in fucking Twilight Town, is he here for the sunsets or something?" Leon was mad, and Roxas lost interest. He laid back down on the couch and closed his eyes.

_Aren't the sunsets why you're here? _Roxas thought to himself.

Cloud and Leon walked upstairs and Roxas couldn't hear them anymore. He sighed and shook his head

* * *

He blinked lazily and looked around, it was completely dark. Roxas had fallen asleep on the couch, and no one had woken him up. He looked at his phone, there were three missed texts. Two from Hayner and one from Olette.

Hayner's were pretty stupid, _broooo let's hang_ and _where are you dickhead?_

Olette's was probably just Hayner trying another route to get at Roxas, assuming Roxas would jump at a text from Olette just like he or Pence would. _Rox, where are you? We wanna do something (:_.

Olette's had been sent an hour ago, at midnight, Roxas decided going out in the middle of the night meant they were doing something exciting, so he responded.

_What's up? I was sleeping..._

He put his phone down, and walked towards the stairs to get some pants on. Roxas was going out.

In his room, he found a pair of jeans that smelled clean enough, and threw them on. He looked at himself in the mirror and glared. His hair was sticking up again, and he looked tired. He shook his head and descended back into the living room.

Roxas's phone lit up, Olette had responded.

_We're at our usual spot. Meet us there?_

He responded, _Be there in 10._

* * *

Roxas was walking along his road, basking in the darkness that was Twilight Town at night. He looked up at the sky, it was black as could be, and there were no hints of blue to ruin it. He smiled.

He was walking towards the park, he liked to cut through it even though it added a few minutes of walking, when he heard someone shouting behind him.

"Blondie! Baby!" He froze. It couldn't be the redhead, whatever his name was, it really wouldn't be.

He turned around, and there he was, the lanky redheaded man. This time he wasn't alone, he had a friend with him. The other boy was blond, and his hair was gelled into a weird mullet-mohawk combination, but he looked almost menacing. He looked back at Axel, who he hadn't realized was _so_ tall. He was pretty skinny too, and his body almost looked feminine in the dark.

"What." Roxas glared. He didn't know if they could see his glare, but he glared anyways.

"What's you're problem with me." Axel slurred. Roxas wasn't sure, but he might have been drunk.

"Why do you care?" The blond boy stared up, this time blankly.

"Who's this kid, Axey!" The other blond boy whined, he was slurring his words too. They were probably drunk.

"This, Demyx dearest, is Blondie. He won't tell me his real name, and he won't tell me why." Axel presented Roxas to his friend, whose angry look melted into a cheerful smile.

"Nice to meetcha!" He grabbed Roxas's hand and shook it. As soon as he was let go, Roxas began walking away from the two boys. They were definitely drunk.

"Blondie, don't go!" Axel called out. Roxas held up his middle finger and didn't turn around. Axel narrowed his eyes. That blonde boy was beginning to piss him off.

* * *

Roxas arrived at the usual spot more disgruntled than usual, and his friends noticed. After much pestering, they got the barebones, a drunk guy was pestering Roxas, and Roxas didn't like strangers.

His friends had built a little fire in the middle of their spot, which was probably a fire hazard, seeing as it was kind of a cave, but he couldn't complain. Marshmallows were definitely better than any drunk stranger. Pence had single handedly eaten all of their chocolate before Roxas arrived, so he was eating his s'mores sans chocolate. Which was his favorite part.

"Hey guys, was this really the plan?" Roxas asked after about an hour of pointless conversation and marshmallow burning.

"Naw," Hayner managed, his mouth was full of marshmallow. "We were gonna find Seifer and give him some shit, but then Lettey here said that'd be a bad idea. So this is our alternative."

"Don't call me that." Olette began, "I just didn't want to get into a _fight_ with that Fuu chick. She's like twice my size!"

"You're underestimating yourself," Hayner smiled at his friend, "she's not nearly that big! Plus, you could definitely take her. She's so thin!" Roxas immediately thought of the redhead, who was far thinner than Fuu.

"Are you calling me _fat_?!" Olette glared. She was teasing Hayner, but he did not realize it.

"N-no! I think you look great! Olette looks great, right Rox?" Hayner stumbled over his words more than he usually would have.

Roxas didn't respond. He was too busy thinking about all the skinny bones he could break in that guy's body. He really had been in a bad mood.

"I think you look fantastic!" Pence chimed in, smiling at Olette. She responded with a giggle and a twirl of her hair around her finger. "But guys, it's like almost two in the morning, do you think we could get some rest?" Pence just wanted to go home and play his games, and Roxas knew that.

"Yeah, I'm heading out, I'm tired." Roxas stood up, having been ready to leave for a couple of hours.

* * *

When he got home, he walked in on Cloud and Leon watching a romantic comedy. His shock was amplified by their reactions to the screen, scoffing at the man who was too pig-headed to see that there was a woman in love with them, and shaking their heads at the tragically awkward moments. Cloud was supposed to be emotionless.

Roxas left the hallway before they noticed him, and he walked up to his bedroom. He laid down, and sighed. He was full of marshmallows and couldn't believe school was starting so soon. He just wanted to curl up in his blankets and sleep his life away.


	2. Roxas hates school

So I'm gonna put a little author's note here, I don't think I'll be doing this too often, unless people want me to (but why would they ha-ha-ha). Sorry I took my time updating, I'm going to try to get it on a more regular schedule, something like every two weeks, maybe every week if I'm feeling inspired. Who knows. But I just finished school and went away for a few weeks, so I've been busy. Also, I've been very _un_inspired as of late, and I think after getting through introductions and beginnings and such it'll get smoother. Basically, I wanted to apologize for my laziness, and I hope this chapter is alright, and I mean, review if you want, or don't, you know.

On a side note, I'm not entirely sure about the pairings yet, I mean Axel/Roxas is going to happen, duh, and Zemyx is something I like to have on the side, but not really as a main story line thing, but Sora/Riku is really what I'm debating on. I love SoRiku, but I'm not sure if I'm feeling it for this story. If I did put it in there, it'd have its own chapters and such, you know, I gotta flesh out that clichéed mess. ;)

So yeah, if you have an opinion on that, let me know!

* * *

Twilight Town High School. No one could think of a more creative name. There were no famous people from the area that they could name it after, so it simply became known as Twilight Town High. Roxas walked towards the gated entrance, glaring at his feet as he went.

You could say that Roxas hated school.

Sora was chattering busily about his new classes, his friends, and the possibility of new friends. Roxas was hardly paying attention, he was concentrating on the prospect of escaping school as soon as he could.

"Rox, isn't it great, we're _juniors_." Sora emphasized the last word like it was the end-all-be-all of titles. "We can bully all those little kids," Sora was the same size as most of those "little" kids. Though, so was Roxas, "and we can finally leave campus for lunch and free periods." Roxas was actually looking forward to that, getting off campus meant less time surrounded by people he couldn't stand.

"Yeah So, we're basically in the same position as we were last year. No one is going to believe that we're juniors." Roxas looked up at his brother.

"Stop being such a Negative Nathan, Rox!" Sora pouted at his brother, "I've grown, and I'm pretty sure you have too!"

"No we haven't Sora. Not enough for it to matter, anyways." He looked back down at the ground. Roxas hated eye contact.

Sora huffed at his brother, but decided to stay quiet for a moment.

They approached the front doors of their school, having walked through the front courtyard. Twilight Town High, also known as just TT, had three buildings. The front building had once been a mansion, donated by the owner's children after his death years before the town had turned it into a school. Once the town committee had deemed it worthy of a place of education, extensive renovations took place. Behind the mansion were two newer buildings, which had been built as the school grew. Most of the amenities were in the left hand building, known to students as the Left Wing. The gyms, art rooms, and science laboratories were in the Right Wing. The mansion was used solely for classes, most of which were English and History classes. Roxas had always hated the architecture of the two wings. Architects had tried to reproduce the unique style of the mansion, but also wanted to allow the buildings a modern edge. Most people thought it was a success, Roxas thought it was an eyesore.

"Rox, there are Riku and Kairi!" Sora broke his silence, "I'm gonna head off, 'kay? Have fun and don't get beat up or anything!" He smiled as he dashed off.

Roxas continued walking, sulking with every step. He walked towards his locker, which was in the Left Wing, like most people's, hoping to avoid confrontation.

He made it safely to his locker, without a sign of Seifer, his friends, or even any of the underclassmen who were bound to get lost on the first day. He put his backpack in the locker, grabbed a pencil, and looked at his schedule. He had English first, with someone named Gainsborough. He hadn't heard of that teacher before, and with a huff, he slammed his locker shut. He walked back out, his English class was in the mansion, room number M216 (M for mansion, 2 for second floor, 16 for room number; Roxas remembered that lesson from freshman orientation), and he hoped that he could get there early. Roxas wanted a seat in the back, preferably in a corner.

He had made it halfway across the field separating the buildings before recognizing someone. It was Namine, his adolescent crush, and a close friend of Olette's. He put his head down quickly, hoping she wouldn't notice him. Roxas couldn't deal with her special blend of awkward and sweet on the first day of school, he just wanted to be left alone.

Not surprisingly, he wasn't noticed. Roxas made it to his classroom in one piece, with just one ex-classmate asking him how his summer was, trying to make small talk. He had breezed through the conversation, using one word answers, and walking away as he responded. Roxas was often a little too rude.

He walked into the room, which only had three students in it, none of whom had chosen a back corner for a spot. Roxas made a beeline for his desired seat, in the back right corner of the room. He looked at the room. It was pretty standard, a few posters encouraging literature and proper grammar, though it was barer than most other teachers rooms. Gainsborough must be new.

Roxas waited for another ten minutes before the classroom was filled, though it seemed it was a small class. Only about fifteen of the twenty five available desks were filled, and no one had come in for a couple of minutes. Now they were only missing their mysterious teacher. Roxas rolled his eyes, _this guy really must be new_, he thought. Just as his eyes returned to focus, the door rattled, and a girl walked in. Roxas assumed she was a new student, or someone who'd been held back. She had long brown hair tied back into a braid and bright green eyes. She was probably taller than Roxas, but not as tall as some of the girls in the eleventh grade.

"Hello class, my name is Aerith Gainsborough, and I will be your English teacher." She smiled warmly at the half-asleep students. "Sorry that I was late, but I was trying to copy this," she picked up a stack of papers and began handing them out. "One is a syllabus, it will tell you what you need for this class, and the other is a survey, so I can get to know you a little bit!" She looked excited as she finished passing out the papers. "Now, let me take roll call."

* * *

Roxas spent the rest of the day wandering from class to class, hearing lectures on the "responsibilities" of upperclassmen, and avoiding people he didn't want to see. He had made it all the way to lunch without so much as a glimpse of Seifer, which was always a blessing, and he had made it through the afternoon with only a brief encounter with Olette, who had the same math class as he did. Precalculus, which was a bore, but math was something Roxas could do without much human interaction.

At the end of the day, the final bell chimed its peaceful tone, announcing the students' freedom. Roxas got up from his desk and left as quickly as he could, hoping to avoid any more interactions. He felt slightly guilty about avoiding his friends, but his mood had been so foul all day that he didn't want to ruin their days. Roxas could be considerate sometimes.

He began his walk home alone, assuming Sora was off galavanting with Riku and Kairi, only getting so far as the school gates.

"Hey chicken-wuss," Roxas kept walking, it was Seifer. "Yo, I just said hi, chicken-wuss," Seifer was walking alongside Roxas, trying to get the boy to react.

"Get a new insult, Seifer. You sound like a kid." Roxas mumbled while looking at the ground.

"What was that? If anyone sounds like a kid, it's you. What are you? Four feet tall?" Seifer taunted proudly.

"Shut up." Roxas tried to pick up his pace.

"Listen here kid, when I talk, you listen." Roxas looked up at him, and in a sudden fit of rage, punched the bigger boy. "What the fuck was that?" Seifer looked shocked. People didn't usually stand up to him, except Hayner. "Did you just hit me, chicken-wuss?" He was glaring, towering over Roxas.

"Yeah." Roxas had immediately regretted his actions, and knew that at that moment, he was screwed.

Seifer got as close as he could to the boy, and whispered, "you think you're a fuckin' big shot? Well chicken-wuss, I guess I'm gonna have to put you in your place." He grabbed Roxas' shirt, keeping him in place for a beating that was sure to come.

"Hey, get off him!" A strange voice called out. Roxas turned at the same time as Seifer, and he saw the boy that had been with the drunk redhead. He was filled with that rage once more.

"Let go of me, dickwad!" He pushed Seifer back, bringing the focus back to himself. Seifer glared again, readying his arm, and growled.

"Listen man, I'm not trying to cause a problem or nothin', I just think it'd be, uh, swell for you to get off that kid. He's like _half_ your size." The boy nervously chuckled.

"Stay out of this." Roxas glared at the guy, he had the same mullet thing going on with his hair as he had the other night, but the dirty blond's reaction to Roxas surprised him. He looked hurt.

"Yeah, listen to the chicken-wuss." Seifer said, before turning back to Roxas, and finally landing his punch. Roxas stumbled back, fell over, and rubbed his wounded face. He looked at the dirty blonde, whom Roxas had just dubbed Mullet-Man, and Seifer. Mullet-Man was walking slowly towards his attacker, looking side to side, as if he wanted backup.

"You probably shouldn't do stuff like that anymore," the dirty blond tried to glare, but he looked almost comical in his attempt.

"Yeah? You gonna stop me?" Seifer egged him on, shaking out his fist.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Mullet-Man looked around again, and Roxas had to roll his eyes. His rescuer was more helpless than he was.

Seifer backed up for a minute, before landing another punch, this time on the dirty blond. "You two stay out of my way. Especially you, chicken-wuss." He started walking away, laughing to himself. Roxas grunted, almost wanting to go after him.

The two of them stood there, watching him walk away, before Mullet-Man looked over at Roxas and cheerfully said, "hey, nice to meetcha! I'm Demyx." Deja vu. Roxas looked at the dirty blond, trying to hide his disbelief. The boy didn't remember him at all from that night with the redheaded asshole. Granted, Roxas hadn't remembered his name, but Demyx was not a traditional name. And Roxas was bad with names. Demyx still had his hand out, and Roxas slowly took it.

"Roxas." He said, intending fully to walk away as soon as introductions were over.

"Sorry I couldn't help more, I thought maybe I could scare him off. But I guess I'm just not that scary." Demyx laughed nervously again. "I'm, uh, actually waiting for someone. You know a guy, he's short, but maybe actually taller than you," Roxas scowled at that comment, "he's got like blue hair? Maybe it's gray? It's kind of long in the front, he's real quiet? I think he's a senior?"

"No idea who that is." Roxas broke the eye contact they'd been holding. "But I actually need to go home. I have to meet up with my brother."

"Oh. Well, it was nice to meet you Roxas! Maybe I'll see you 'round sometime!" Demyx smiled warmly at Roxas, who returned the smile with a stare.

"Maybe." He said as he turned around. Roxas wasn't cold. He was just kind of a dick.

* * *

Roxas' phone buzzed. He rolled over, it was seven o'clock, in the evening, and he couldn't imagine who was texting him. He opened the message only to see Hayner's name. Of course, he had been antisocial all day, Hayner had probably heard about his confrontation, maybe even from Seifer himself.

_Bro. Where have you been?_ Hayner wasn't as excited as Roxas thought he would be.

_Around._ Roxas replied noncommittally.

A minute later, his phone buzzed again. _Seriously. I heard about Seifer. _

_Oh. Yeah, that was nothing._ Roxas was modest.

_I heard you beat the crap out of him!_ News travelled fast in Twilight Town, and apparently not very accurately.

_I don't know if that's what I'd call what happened._

_What happened then?_

_I punched him, then he punched me and some guy who tried to stop him... _Roxas didn't feel like explaining what had happened.

_Who?_

_I dunno, some guy. I don't think he goes to TT._ That wasn't a lie. Roxas wasn't sure how to spell the dirty blond's name, so he was gonna stick with the code name "some guy."

_Well, that's pretty much the sickest thing I've heard all day bro. You down to hang?_

_No._

_Rox don't be like that. I know you wannaaa,_ Hayner could be annoying when he wanted.

Roxas ignored the subsequent buzzing, knowing that his friend would get the message if he just avoided contact for a while. Roxas wanted time to think. School made him tired, and Cloud's new friend meant that he was never home alone. Roxas sighed and rolled over in his bed. He closed his eyes, falling gently to sleep, dreaming of sea salt ice cream and clouds. Real ones, not the shitty red ones that he saw everyday.

* * *

Axel growled at his phone. Demyx was late. The two of them had had celebratory Monday plans to get high and wait for the enigmatic blond (not that Demyx knew that part, that was purely in Axel's head.)

Axel felt his pocket vibrate, and with another soft growl, he pulled out his phone

_I dunno if I can make it today.. Zexy's actually talking to me now._ Demyx was bailing for his new high school crush, again.

_Get over that kid. _Axel really wanted to smoke. And to see that kid. But mostly to smoke.

_Ax you don't get it, he's perfect. And I think I'm getting somewhere. _Demyx had practically been stalking the poor boy, not that Axel was any better, sitting at the same bench almost every evening since their second encounter. But it was different, he wanted to punch the blond, or take him on the spot, whichever came first.

_By waiting for him at school? And following him home? _Oh, the hypocrisy. Axel didn't care. Demyx didn't know about his blond dilema, and Axel knew everything about the high school kid.

_Yeah. What about it? At least I have a goal. _Axel let out yet another growl, he didn't appreciate Demyx's sense of humor.

_Harsh. _He closed his phone, put it away, and pulled out his cigarettes. He wasn't getting high today.

He took the first drag, holding his breath, meditating on the smoke filling his lungs. If he was going to get cancer, he might as well enjoy the process to its fullest extent. He let the air out slowly, watch the smoke dissipate into the atmosphere. The sun was turning purple, but it was still mostly red. Axel loved the red sky, he always had. As a child his mom had told him stories about fairies that made the sky so beautiful, but now Axel knew the truth. The cold, hard, scientific truth about atmospheric anomalies and water vapor and reflections. His four (technically five) years at Twilight Town High had done him some good.

Axel turned his attention towards the trees in front of him. They didn't reflect the sunlight quite as nicely as the buildings, in fact, when the red light fell onto the shinier leaves, especially midsummer, they turned an ugly brown color, sometimes almost khaki. But as Axel loved nature in its entirety, he loved that ugly brown color as well.

Another drag of his cigarette, another moment of mediation. Axel's mind wandered quickly, straying from the environment to the people within the environment. He remembered his little blond fixation, and quickly let the smoke out with a grunt. He couldn't get the kid out of his head. Axel was funny, he was attractive, hell, he'd go so far as to deem himself charming, and yet the boy just couldn't stop glaring at him. Axel wasn't good at taking no for an answer, nor could he handle criticism. The blond's anger counted as both, especially when it was _so _unfounded. _He must be biased against redheads_, Axel chuckled to himself. He could try dying his hair blue, or purple, or even green, just to see if that would make the blond lighten up. Laughing to himself, he gathered his things to leave.

"Ri-ku." The voice sounded familier. Axel looked up, and saw some kids approaching. One of them was tall and lean, but muscular, with the whitest hair Axel had seen in a while, and the girl with them was a sort of natural redhead. Finally, he found the source of the voice, and his eyes widened. It was the blond, with brown hair. He was sure of it. He'd found his mystery man. "Ri-ku, listen to me!" He said again, and Axel was sure of it. The kid sounded a lot happier, but it was the same voice.

"Blondie!" He called out, stomping on his cigarette before he stood up. He gave his most charming Axel-smile, and turned towards the trio. "Long time no see, feeling less moody, are we?"

His blondie wrinkled his nose, and looked at the silver-haired boy next to him, "who're you calling blondie?"

Axel blinked a few times, looked at the kid again, and reaffirmed his suspicions. It was the same boy. "You, don't you remember? We met on that lovely evening, what, a few days ago?"

"No idea mister," Blond-turned-brunette boy looked long and hard at Axel, as if trying to place where he knew him from. "Yeah, I'm not blond, and I don't think I ever have been, so I don't think you- oh." He stopped mid-sentence, turned to the silver-haired boy, and whispered something in his ear. The boy turned and nodded, and the brunette continued, "I mean, _I_ don't know you, but maybe you know my brother!" He smiled up, as if he had just solved a mystery, "Roxas? That ring any bells? He looked just like me, we're twins you know, but he's blond. So that would explain it!"

"Yeah. Roxas, that's right. Sorry for the mix-up, kid." Axel smiled down, he liked this brunette a lot more than his brother. But he'd make a note of that name, Roxas.

"It's alright, it doesn't happen very often, I guess because he's so, uh, Roxas-y, and I'm not. I'm Sora though, nice to meet you!" The brunette stuck out his hand, offering it Axel.

They shook hands, and Axel bid them a good evening. He promised Sora that they'd talk again eventually, after the boy asked almost tearily if they would, and walked away.

_Roxas_, Axel thought, _I'll get you yet__._ He smirked as he lit up another cigarette. His game of cat and mouse had just gotten more interesting.

* * *

Roxas woke up on Tuesday morning with a headache. The headache was worsened by the orange glow shining in through his curtains. He had overslept. He groaned, rolled over, and stretched out. He could hear Sora and Cloud talking in the kitchen, eating breakfast. Roxas wouldn't have time for food, and that just served to make him more upset.

Finally, he mustered up the courage to roll out of bed, landing on the floor. He heard Cloud call out, "Rox? You okay? You've gotta get up." Roxas glared in the direction of his door, and rolled once more, freeing himself from the tangle of blankets that had fallen with him.

Roxas stood up, walked towards the bathroom, and cursed his life.

Taking the quickest shower he could, he finished getting ready for school, ignoring the wet mop of hair that was promising to dry even worse than usual. Roxas shook his head, hoping to cause some physical reaction on his head, but he knew his efforts would forever be fruitless.

He walked down the stairs, hoping he would slip and fall and avoid school for the day. But Roxas was too coordinated for his own good, and too frightened to make it happen himself. He made it to the door safely, Sora waiting for him impatiently.

"C'mon Roxas! We're gonna be late!" Sora huffed a little, opening the door and walking out. Roxas followed, not answering his brother.

* * *

Axel rolled over, his phone vibrated in his ear, "aw shit!" He opened his eyes, groaned, and looked at the caller. It was Demyx. He ignored the call, threw his phone across the room, and closed his eyes again. Axel wasn't waking up before noon. He could hear the phone vibrating again, and figuring it might be important, or that it might be an offer Axel wanted to take him up on, he climbed out of bed, wrapped in his sheets, and hobbled over to his phone. It was again Demyx, and Axel answered with a grunt.

"Dude, he's not here. He's not here. I got stood up." Demyx sounded panicked.

"Who?" Axel didn't care.

"Zexy! He told me he'd meet me at this cafe so that we could get breakfast together before he has to go to class because he has his first period off and now I-"

"What? Why are you calling _me_ about this?" Axel could not believe his ears. Demyx called him at 7:15 in the morning, to complain about his jailbait crush.

"Because, I never wake up this early, and I don't know what to do now! I'm lonely!" Demyx was whining. Axel was not going to take it at 7 o'clock in the morning.

"Goodbye Demyx. Don't call me again." Axel growled. Axel liked sleeping, _a lot_.

He meandered back over to his bed, putting his phone next to his pillow, back in its rightful spot, and drifted off back to sleep.

* * *

Roxas was at lunch, having survived a morning of lectures and notes. His teachers weren't slacking off at all, no one was taking it easy for the first week of school. He was sitting with Pence and Olette, none of them knew where Hayner was. Pence was bashfully trying to explain some computer program to Olette, who had recently bought a new laptop, and had trusted Pence to properly install useful and easy programs. Pence's definition of "easy" was apparently different from Olette's. Roxas was listening to their chatter, looking around at the other students in the cafeteria. Most upperclassmen had left campus, especially the juniors, who were just getting a taste of the freedom that came with being one of the high school top dogs, but Roxas' friends had opted to stay in the school, because none of them had felt like dishing out extra money for food, and Pence was not keen on long walks.

Roxas let his eyes wander a little, and he saw Namine from across the room, sitting with her Kairi, who was her cousin. The two of them looked remarkably similar from a distance, other than their hair color. Namine was a very pretty girl, and she always looked so innocent. Kairi, on the other hand, had a flair for exotic styles, and always looked a little rough around the edges. Kairi was a social butterfly, she knew anyone and everyone, and was almost always nice to them. Namine was shy, she hardly ever talked to strangers. She and Roxas had met completely by accident, and because of her shyness, and his angry demeanor, it had taken them a while to actually talk.

Riku wasn't with Kairi and Namine, and Roxas assumed the senior was off somewhere with Sora, indulging his childish desires. Roxas glowered a little, realizing the closeness of his twin's friendship, and then realizing his friendships, although close, were nothing like Sora's. Roxas really did have an inferiority complex.

"Roxas! You agree with me right? Roxas!" Pence was calling to him, and in his musings, he hadn't been listening.

"Oh? Huh? Sorry, what was that?" Roxas turned his attention to his friends, who were still arguing over computer applications.

"This program, it's the best free word processor available, and it's probably even better than a lot of the paid applications available, right?" He looked expectantly at Roxas.

Before Roxas could answer, Olette chimed in, "but it's probably full of viruses, and it looks so _old_!"

Pence was apparently explaining to Olette that "free" did not mean "cheap" online. "I mean, Pence has a point, you don't wanna spend like 100 munny on some word processor you only want for school, right?"

Olette glared at Roxas, but did not answer. She turned around, to face Pence again, and the two of them began squabbling once more.

"Hey guys!" Roxas heard Hayner call to them, he turned around, and walking towards them was Hayner, with a big, black eye. "Couldn't let you have all the fun, ey Roxy boy?"

Roxas glared, but didn't answer. He took a bite of the sandwich he had been neglecting, and looked at Hayner, waiting for the story he knew was coming.

"Why don't you have one of these," Hayner gestured at his face, "didn't Seifer hit you too?"

"I don't bruise easily or something." Roxas looked down at his sandwich. He also hadn't been hit square in the eye, which probably helped in terms of bruising.

"Well, I thought that you needed a little avenging, so I took it upon myself to find Seifer and show him who's boss." Hayner smiled proudly.

"Well it kind of looks like he showed _you _who's boss." Olette giggled, having turned her attention away from the laptop.

"Shut up Lettey." Hayner smiled at the girl as he said it, "I gave him twice the punch he gave me!"

"I'm sure you did, Hayner." Olette's smile faded, "but don't call me that."

"But Lettey, it's so cute!" Hayner gushed, ruffling Olette's hair. "And Pencey boy, what are we doing right now?"

"Working on Olette's laptop." Came the reply, Pence didn't even look up. He was busily typing on the keyboard, and Roxas wasn't sure why. He wasn't a computer genius, but downloading software didn't involve extensive typing.

"But don't you guys want to hear more of my story? It was ep-ic!" Hayner sat down next to Roxas and puffed his chest out. "I swear it's the best thing you'll hear all day!"

"Sure, Hay, tell us about your fight." Olette was looking over Pence's shoulder as he typed, not looking at Hayner, and the blush forming on Pence's round cheeks was noticeable.

"So, I was walking into school, I got here late, and I saw Fuu. She whispered somethin' like 'pussy' under her breath, and I mean, I hardly heard it, but I saw the look she was giving me. I don't hit girls or anything though, so I was all 'back off,' and she was all 'no.' So I was like, 'alright, Lettey's gonna give it to you later,' 'cause you could kick her ass, Lette" Olette rolled her eyes, and Hayner paused to laugh, "but then she was like 'Seifer,' and I turned around, and there he was, walking towards the school. You know that Fuu's a weird chick. It's hard to talk to her, she doesn't talk enough. Can't she speak English? But anyways, Seifer was walking towards me and Fuu, cracking his knuckles, and I was like 'hey Seifer, heard about what happened yesterday, you got beat up or somethin' right?' Seifer wasn't too happy about that, and he just kept walking at me. Eventually, he got real close to me, told me to get off school property, so we could fight or somethin'. So I did that, 'cause I didn't want to get suspended or anything." Roxas was getting distracted again, Hayner's story was dragging on, but he cleared his throat and continued, "so Seifer threw a punch, I dodged it, like a boss, and then hit him back. It must've hurt or somethin', 'cause he came back in a rage, and hit me square in the eye. I punched back a few more times, but then a teacher started yelling, and took us to the principal's office. I got off with just a warning, probably because my eye turned black real fast, but Seifer's still there. He's in deep shit man."

"Oh Hayner! You shouldn't do stuff like that!" Olette's look of anger had melted into one of concern about halfway through the story, and now she was up, out of her seat, examining his eye.

"It's all good, I can handle a black eye." Hayner smiled at his friends, and said, "well, I should probably get some lunch before it ends, don't wanna go to class hungry." He stood up, and walked towards the cafeteria's kitchen.

"Roxas, did Hayner say you got hit by Seifer too?" Olette had turned her attention to Roxas.

He blinked once, not sure if he should answer honestly, and finally decided, "yeah, but it was my own fault."

"Roxas! I thought you knew better, I mean, I expect this from Hayner, _sometimes_, but you?" Olette looked disappointed, almost motherly, and Roxas shook his head.

"It won't happen again, I was mad and he made it worse."

"Well, at least you don't look like Hay does right now. What an eye!" Pence piped up, "I just hope this doesn't mean my turn is next." He laughed nervously, and turned his attentions back to the computer.

Roxas chuckled a little in agreement, and went back to thinking.

He couldn't get his encounter with Seifer out of his head, the boy had been more aggressive than usual. Normally, the rule to follow was don't bother him, and he'll leave you alone, but something had been wrong. Roxas also was hardly ever the true target of Seifer's anger, normally Hayner gladly took that bullet.

And then there was the mysterious-drunk-friend-turned-rescuer, he had remembered nothing of their first meeting, which was probably good. Roxas didn't want the redhead finding out about it. With a name like Roxas, he wouldn't be hard to find.

* * *

By the end of the day, Roxas was wiped out, and ready for a nap. Roxas liked naps. The sky was finally blue, which cheered him up a little, but not enough to deter him from his nap.

As he was leaving the courtyard, he heard a small voice call out behind him, "Roxas, wait up!" He didn't need to turn around to recognize the voice, it was Namine. He stopped, turned his head, and waited for her to catch up. "How've you been? I haven't seen you around much," she blushed, even though they'd known each other for years, she was still too shy to start a conversation. "I missed you this summer."

"Yeah, sorry, I've been busy," Roxas avoided eye contact. He had been busy, but not too busy to see his friends. "Things have been okay. Cloud's back now, which is cool," Roxas tried to keep things casual. His heart still wasn't ready to look her in the eye and have a conversation.

Namine had been Roxas' first crush, and his first heartbreak. He met her in his freshman year, and by sophomore year, he thought she was the one. She had never rejected him, but somehow she had made it clear that they would never be together, and he had taken that as a sign to leave her be, and to get over everything. He had missed her too, but he couldn't admit it. The unspoken agreement between the two still hurt him.

"Anyways, Kairi's throwing this party this weekend, and I thought maybe you'd want to come, just for a while. I think Sora's going, so he can show you where to go." Namine rushed through her words, and the blush on her face deepened. When Roxas was honest with himself, this attitude made him angry. She always acted so _in love_ with him, but she wasn't. Roxas didn't know a whole lot about girls, but he knew that shy, sweet behavior was supposed to _mean_ something.

"I dunno," Roxas hated parties, and wasn't about to get himself roped into going to one, "I've got stuff to do this weekend."

"Oh, alright," Namine looked down at her feet.

Roxas looked at her, glared at his own feet, and said, "maybe I'll come. I dunno, I might have some free time."

Namine looked up, smiled brightly at her friend, and changed the subject quickly.

Roxas sighed, and continued to talk to the blonde girl. He hadn't wanted to give in, but she looked so sad when he said no, and Roxas didn't want to make her sad.

Roxas really was a sap sometimes.

* * *

Roxas's week was fairly uneventful from Wednesday on, he spent most of his time avoiding Seifer, who seemed to be even more irritable after his run in with Hayner, and Roxas' group hadn't been doing much. Olette and Pence were both honors students, and as such, they had to spend more time doing their homework than Roxas or Hayner, so they were often busy. Hayner was sulking for most of the week, as he had been grounded when he parents saw his black eye.

Sora, Kairi, and Riku had been running all over town, and though Roxas had been invited on multiple occasions, he resisted their promises of sea salt ice cream and stayed home.

Cloud had been showing his friend Leon around town, not that there was much to see, and hadn't been home as much as Roxas though the would be, but that was fine with him. He had the house to himself, and was able to sit around on the couch and watch whatever bad TV show was on, without being interrupted.

By the time Friday rolled around, Roxas had gotten used to minimal social contact, and groaned when he was reminded of the party.

Namine had texted him, _don't forget, Kairi will come get you and Sora at 7! _

Roxas had forgotten all about his unwanted invitation, but feeling obligated to make good on his promise, he responded by saying _alright_.

* * *

Axel woke up Friday morning, and looked out his window. The sky was sunny and blue, meaning he had slept in again. He smiled, summer was a great season. He stood up, getting out of bed quickly, and stretched. He walked towards his closet, wearing nothing but boxers from the previous day. Everything was dirty, or at least shoved onto the floor of the closet. Axel was going to have to do some laundry, and he wasn't too excited.

Deciding that he could wait to begin his chores, he walked back to his bed, sat down, and picked up his phone. There were three missed calls from Demyx. Axel remembered Demyx's last emergency, and smiled. The kid was having trouble wooing his would-be boyfriend again, probably.

Axel was about to put his phone down again, when it started ringing. Sure enough, it was Demyx. Axel was in good spirits, and decided a little whine would do Demyx good, and wouldn't hurt him.

"Axel. _Finally_, I've been calling you for _hours_! I have a question for you!" The mohawked teenager didn't sound desperate, or really upset at all.

"Yeah? Shoot." Axel said, while fishing around the drawer in his nightstand for a cigarette.

"So, I was talking to Larx yesterday," Demyx's cousin was named Larxene. She was a huge bitch, frankly, but Axel had fun with her volatile nature and her outbursts. Demyx was a little scared of her, but they'd grown up together, and it was a well known fact that Larxene had a soft spot for her goofy cousin. "She told me that there was this high school party going on this weekend, you know how she's so close with Marluxia and stuff, and Vexen told him who told her about it," Marluxia and Vexen were two more members of the group Axel had grown up around, "and she told me that Zexion was probably going, 'cause Vexen heard about the party during a _chemistry_ class, and Zexy was there, and he was listening to the people talk about it, and apparently he even has _friends_ going, so I mean, we have to go!"

"And you want me to come with you? What about Larx? Or even Marly?"

"I want you there Ax! Parties are always more fun with you! And what if, what if he has a friend, who needs _distracting_." Demyx didn't normally scheme, but he really wanted the high schooler, and he was not making any progress on his own.

"When is it?" Axel asked simply, taking a drag from his now-lit cigarette.

"Tomorrow! C'mon, I'll trade you all the weed I have right now, please?" Demyx wouldn't have offered that if it was a lot of marijuana, but Axel wasn't about to reject free drugs. Axel laughed at himself, he sounded like a high school aged pot head who thought they were cool for smoking. Axel had been that kid once, but no longer.

"You know what? Fine. I'll do you this favor. But you owe me. You have no idea what plans I had for Saturday. Maybe I had a hot date that I'm going to cancel, for you, my dear friend." Axel had no plans, he just wanted to make Demyx feel bad, for waking him up earlier in the week.

"What? Why didn't you tell me! Ax, you don't have to come!" Axel could hear Demyx's eyes widen.

"Nah, I was kidding man. I didn't have any plans. Text me details later or something, I'm gonna go shower or something." Axel hung up the phone before he could even hear a reply, and stood up again.

He put out his cigarette, and walked back to his closet. Picking out some clothes that didn't look too dirty, he put them on, and began sorting out what he was going to wash.

He remembered Blondie's brother, who didn't seem like he was out of high school yet. Maybe they'd run into one another, and Axel would be able to get even closer to his to-be-determined goal.

Saturday was going to be decidedly interesting.


End file.
